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In the wake of disastrous Depression-era floods, the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) is instituted, and Chuck Glover (Montgomery Clift) flies in from D.C. to tie up one last loose end: get 80-year-old matriarch Ella Garth (Jo Van Fleet) to vacate her island homestead before the dams flood it. But she isn't going, and as they argue, Clift comes to appreciate her deep love for the land, and to find a bond growing with her widowed granddaughter Carol (Lee Remick). Wild River was a project director Elia Kazan nursed for 25 years, after his first visits to the region in the '30s, and the most atmospheric of his works, from its long, slow opening scenes, through Ellsworth Fredericks' crisply autumnal CinemaScope photography, Kenyon Hopkins' haunting score—complemented by overheard snatches of hymns and spirituals. This underrated, deeply resonant masterpiece was filmed in Charleston, near Chattanooga. We'll be screening a restored, 35mm print.